Carwyn Jones: Public bodies give safeguarding of children the highest priority, and of course that is key to the Act, which is the Social Services and Well-being (Wales) Act 2014.
Carwyn Jones: Again, I have to remind the Member that these are not matters for the Welsh Government; they are matters for the UK Government. I don’t disagree with what he said, actually. It’s a sign of austerity that the police service is under so much pressure, but that is the responsibility of the UK Government. We’ve made it very clear that we would wish to see the devolution of policing with the...
Carwyn Jones: We meet regularly with the—. There are regular ministerial meetings, in fact, to discuss finance and other matters. Bear in mind, of course, that, as a Government, we support and continue to support 500 police community support officers across Wales—an issue that is not devolved, but is an issue of community safety that we wanted to take seriously, and has had a positive impact on so many...
Carwyn Jones: Well, policing is not devolved to the Welsh Government, so we have no involvement in the recruitment of police officers. That is a matter for the Home Office.
Carwyn Jones: I think that’s best. With regard to the franchise agreement, progress is being made in that regard now. There were some blockages that needed to be cleared; they have been cleared. The sad thing is that the UK Government refuses to allow the people of Wales any kind of control over their own rail network. We don’t even have the power to direct Network Rail—the Scots do; we can’t even...
Carwyn Jones: ‘Yes’ is the simple answer. But, of course, this is not a devolved area. The budget is held by the UK Government; it’s for the UK Government to make good on its promise. I share his concern that, in time, as we see different trains being introduced over the years, the fact there’s no electrification will mean, in time, that the inter-city trains will stop in Cardiff because there is...
Carwyn Jones: The blame for the failure to electrify is at the feet of the UK Government. It was they who made the promise to electrify the line; it was they who withdrew, who reneged, on that promise to electrify that line. We know that the cost is about £500 million to electrify between Cardiff and Swansea. We want to make sure, as our plans have shown, whether it’s via the metro or whether it’s...
Carwyn Jones: Well, again, as I said, we have the bodies that have been set up to work with industry. Industry Wales is another example of that. We have a chief economist and other economists who can support what we are doing. We also have the Public Policy Institute for Wales, whose job it is to look at issues as they arise and provide us with advice. We do have that academic input into policy making. He...
Carwyn Jones: Well, as a result of the UK Government announcement in July that it wouldn’t electrify to Swansea, bidders for our rail services will be unable to provide and operate electric trains between Cardiff and Swansea in any event.
Carwyn Jones: First of all, the worst thing for the Welsh economy would be a chaotic Brexit; that’s the worst thing of all. We do have a chief economist who advises Government. We consult with businesses through bodies such as the Council for Economic Development, and in that way we have the intelligence that we need to take the Welsh economy forward. But he speaks as if we have nothing in terms of...
Carwyn Jones: We do.
Carwyn Jones: We have an EU exit working group that is working on different scenarios, but I have to say that no deal—there is no mitigation for no deal. There is nothing literally we can do in the short term if we find there’s no deal. In the longer term, it’s possible to look for new markets, but, in the timescale we’re talking about, it’s impossible. If we look at farming, particularly...
Carwyn Jones: It’s an exceptionally worrying prospect. As I’ve said before, no deal is the worst deal. To leave in chaotic circumstances would be bad for everybody. The concern that I have is that insufficient progress is made by March 2019 so that no deal becomes the default position. That is something that she and I are in exactly the same position in terms of saying that we would oppose that. It’s...
Carwyn Jones: We are not yet in a position—well, I’m not in the position—where I could recommend to this Assembly that we should support the withdrawal Bill. I did have a meeting with him and with the Secretary of State for Wales. I think it’s fair to say there was a better understanding of our determination not to support the Bill unless the power grab is addressed, and I think it’s fair to say...
Carwyn Jones: These are issues that are being considered in advance of the devolution of pay and conditions. We know that schools—. He said that local authorities are responsible. Schools are responsible for employing their supply teachers and, of course, if schools wish to employ supply teachers in a different way, rather than going through agencies, then that will be open to them. But with this being...
Carwyn Jones: Well, it is a matter for the school, of course, because schools employ the supply teachers. In order to change to a situation where there is complete consistency in that regard then local management of schools would have to be removed from schools. In Northern Ireland, where there is no LMS, there’s far greater consistency in terms of supply teachers’ pay. This is an issue that hasn’t...
Carwyn Jones: No, but then this isn’t devolved yet. This is something that will come to us next year. We have a supply teaching working group, which is looking at ways to boost the employment prospects and, indeed, income of supply teachers, and that is exactly what we plan to take forward.
Carwyn Jones: The important point is that local authorities are able, for example, to produce the Welsh in education strategic plans in their areas—they haven’t been doing so consistently up to now, I have to say—and to then use those WESPs to target those areas where we should have more new Welsh schools. The tendency over the years is that the new schools have tended to be English schools, and the...
Carwyn Jones: Well, I admire his craft in turning this into a question to congratulate Monmouthshire local education authority. Of course, we welcome the fact that Monmouthshire and other LEAs—all LEAs in Wales—have been able to benefit from the school improvement programme. I’d remind him, of course, that his party in England has no such programme and, in that case, in Monmouthshire, no new school...
Carwyn Jones: Well, it’s right to say that over £120 million has been allocated for FE projects during the band A programme. We’ve seen the results of that. Over £10.6 million of capital funding has been provided to FE institutions to upgrade their IT and skills equipment. Over the next wave of investment—band B—we’re working with FE colleges to develop their investment plans for this next wave...
